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There are fat swimmers, runners and cyclists.... you see fat people cycling ALL THE TIME. I was an obese marathoner.

My non-primal in-laws (SIL and BIL) were discussing how you often see fat swimmers, but not fat bikers...and that swimming is not an effective tool for staying in shape. I took some offense to this as I LOVE to swim and am in shape---they on the other hand are not. SIL is trying by counting calories and walking. BIL...not so much...but I can see/hear that he is being improperly influenced by CW.

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Unfortunately the research backs your in-laws :-). There was a research paper done on this a few (15-20) years ago. While swimming is a great exercise for all the reason mentioned above, it just doesn't burn as many calories as equivelant exercise done outside a pool(given the same calorie burn during the exercise period) I believe the gist of the research was - When you go for a run your body heats up and when you quit running there is an afterburn effect. When you swim in a pool your body does not heat up as much becasue the water cools it down so you do not get the same afterburn effect. Having said that, you are still burning calories from the exercise itself and if you swam in really cold water your body may have to work harder to maintain its temperature.
IIRC the other part of the equation is swimming is not weight bearing so less hard on body. This translated in to a few less calories burned for repair of tissue that occurs with weight bearing exercise.
That being said Swimming is still a great exercise and if you do enough of it (or intensly enough)you can burn plenty of calories.
Oddly enough - many bikers -including pros- tend to have weak bones - not weight bearing enough - although I have never heard this about swimmers.

Cheers
j

Comment

Unfortunately the research backs your in-laws :-). There was a research paper done on this a few (15-20) years ago. While swimming is a great exercise for all the reason mentioned above, it just doesn't burn as many calories as equivelant exercise done outside a pool(given the same calorie burn during the exercise period) I believe the gist of the research was - When you go for a run your body heats up and when you quit running there is an afterburn effect. When you swim in a pool your body does not heat up as much becasue the water cools it down so you do not get the same afterburn effect. Having said that, you are still burning calories from the exercise itself and if you swam in really cold water your body may have to work harder to maintain its temperature.
IIRC the other part of the equation is swimming is not weight bearing so less hard on body. This translated in to a few less calories burned for repair of tissue that occurs with weight bearing exercise.
That being said Swimming is still a great exercise and if you do enough of it (or intensly enough)you can burn plenty of calories.
Oddly enough - many bikers -including pros- tend to have weak bones - not weight bearing enough - although I have never heard this about swimmers.Cheers j

As a former competitive swimmer since I was a little kid, I can say swimmers who swim in COLD water, gain an extra layer of fat as insulation. For someone like me, with numerous joint, spinal & connective tissue injuries, there are few other options that I enjoy as much as swimming. Even though I love to hike & walk about (weight bearing), I do sometimes hurt myself if I slip on uneven surfaces. Swimming is safer for me & I enjoy it. I lift weights too, but less weight & more reps than before my injuries/surgeries, so as to not hurt myself (shoulders & spine mostly)

"Science is not belief but the will to find out." ~ Anonymous"Culture of the mind must be subservient to the heart." ~ Gandhi
"The flogging will continue until morale improves." ~ Unknown

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If I had access to a kid-free pool with lap time, I would replace ALL HIIT running sprints with swimming (crawl, butterfly) sprints. Like everyone else said: super whole-body workout, less joint/impact strain, etc.

Just wear goggles and keep the chlorine out of your eyes. And as they say about pool swimming: it's an excuse for most women to take a shower (e.g., get the chlorine smell out of the hair) and an excuse for most men NOT to shower.

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swim. sometimes take it slow, if it's "play" to you, forget that it's cardio and enjoy it! Sometimes try some sprints for a incredible full body workout.

I was a competitive cyclist (mostly mountain bikes) before my life went a different way, but even when I was 23, training 20+ hours and hundreds of miles a week, winning races, and eating the conventional low-fat, high-carb athlete "diet", I still had a belly! Never understood why I couldn't get rid of that extra little bit of fat until I went Primal. I still ride when I can, and count it as play even though it would be "excessive" cardio by some standards. I still do "sprint sometimes" workouts on the bike. I may not be quite as fast or have the endurance that I did ten years ago, but I would say that overall my fitness (on the bike and off) is pretty good for the amount of training I put into it now!

Not saying whether in general swimmers or cyclists are fat, to be honest most of both groups that I see are fat... if you're here you know it's not really about what kind of exercise, its about what kind of food. If you have a sport you like that also happens to be incredible exercise, take full advantage of it!